When Chivas USA secured a victory in the season opener, the club followed that performance up with a hard-fought tie playing a man short to string together consecutive results. Having won their Week 10 match on the road last Sunday, the key for the Red-and-White to jump back into the middle of the pack in the Western Conference standings will be to likewise put together back-to-back results when they face FC Dallas.

At the start of the preparation week, Chivas Head Coach Wilmer Cabrera mentioned to cdchivasusa.com that he was not concerned over a potential let-down in motivation that would cause the Goats to slip up a week after recording their first road win of the season.

Cabrera’s players also echoed that sentiment ahead of Friday’s trip to the Lone Star State to face FCD in the second leg of the season series Saturday night at Toyota Stadium.

“We’ve been trying to maintain things the way we’ve been doing it,” said right back Eric Avila, who has played in every minute of the regular season so far. “That confidence helps us out a lot and it’s just motivation to keep going.”

The Rojiblancos delivered a convincing 3-1 rout over the Colorado Rapids in snowy conditions and snapped a three-game losing streak in the process, which proved that Chivas are not only capable of scoring away from home, but that the squad is slowly but surely learning how to close out matches.

“It was more of a learning step for us. We closed it out, we finished it. We didn’t get that shutout, but I think that’s what we are looking for. We’re looking to close out games with zero goals and we’re going to start from there.

“The most important thing is just staying together. We accomplished that on the away trip and we figured out ways where we do need to punish [opponents] we need to go forward. Coming into this game versus Dallas I think it’s a main key for us to stay together.”

The Texas side took the first meeting at home, 3-1, in late March thanks to two set piece goals that hurt Chivas’ comeback effort. With seven weeks since the first meeting, the clubs enter the crucial conference rematch different from the sides that squared off in Frisco.

Chivas have revamped their offense with the addition of new attackers Martin Rivero and Ryan Finley, among others, while FCD will be without key members of their midfield in the contest.

“The first match down there we were trying to figure things out and I think we found ourselves a little bit and we have more confidence coming into this game,” Avila added. “They’re in a bit of a struggling point but we’re trying not to really focus on what they’re trying to do.

“We’ve been playing around with the lineup a little bit. We have some people that can come in for a different kind of look that we’re trying to go to. The main thing is just staying together with whatever group that we have, and sticking to the game plan and I think if we can do that then we can try to punish them out in their mistakes.”

Saturday’s conference clash is scheduled to kick off at 5:30 p.m. (PT) and will be broadcast on ESPN Deportes Radio KWKU 1220 AM. For more information follow the club on Twitter and Facebook.